Not much to say today...

Well, I confess that on most days, my life is just ordinary and uneventful. Not that being a child of God is ordinary, but today was just a "status quo" type of day. Dishes, laundry, housework, clean the porch, go to work for 9 hours... nothing exciting to speak of. I am just arriving home at 11:41 pm and everyone in the house is asleep. Kind of a bummer... I like having someone to come home and talk to. There is an autographed basketball in the middle of my kitchen table... that should be an interesting story in the morning. :) Tomorrow is SUPPOSED to be "opening day" for little league (since it got rained out last week), and we have rain in the forecast for tomorrow as well... who knows? We also have the district Sheaves for Christ kickoff rally at our church tomorrow evening... tomorrow promises to be anything but humdrum! My sons are even bringing a friend to Sunday School tomorrow! YAY! I sure hope he likes it! Well, this tired mom needs to head to bed. Blessings to all!

Tadpoles

For the past two days, I have been substitute teaching in a kindergarten class that is studying the life cycle of the frog. I arrived on day one to find a very nasty looking tank with a matching odor (phew!!), and quite a few dead tadpoles either floating or resting on the bottom. This is NOT a good way to start your day. I had to quickly scoop the deceased and flush them before the children arrived. Having absolutely NO clue how to care for tadpoles, I just stirred the tank to make the others swim and look alive! The children were fine with this, although they commented on the stench of the water and thought that I should somehow fix this problem. Day two: another dead tadpole and a worse aroma than previous day. "What do tadpoles eat?" I wonder. Since their teacher will not be back for another 3 days, I have to feed them something. So they get to share Goldie's fish food (she's a goldfish, in case you are wondering). They are not looking good. The children are noticing this. Great... the tadpoles are going to die on my watch. What is a substitute teacher to do? So, I tell the students that Mrs. Carter (their regular teacher) is the tadpole expert and she will know exactly what to do! They completely trust Mrs. Carter, so I am all set. I feel free of the responsibility. Too bad I didn't have prior "tadpole" experience! Then I would have known what to do! I have two boys... that's what raising boys is all about! Catching tadpoles and worms and making mudpies, and anything that is generally gross or involves dirt. I think my sons and I will head to the nearest pond and scoop up some tadpoles for investigation...

Blessings!

The ice cream truck!

Well... we just had the most wonderful experience! We had an ice cream truck pull into our development ringing his little bell with his music playing... I haven't seen one of those since I was a little girl growing up in Maine! And it created the EXACT same response in our kids as it used to in us. "MOM!! MOM!!! THERE'S AN ICE CREAM TRUCK OUTSIDE!!! QUICK!!! GET ME A DOLLAR!!!!" LOL! It was hilarious! So there we were... 4 children and 4 adults, forking our money over to the ice cream man. Ah, sweet memories. Some things just never change... like the joy the ice cream truck can bring into your day! But even that joy is NOTHING compared to the unspeakable joy that Jesus Christ can bring into your day... every day! What's that little Sunday School song we sing? "I like Jesus better than ice cream, and ice cream's really good!"

Blessings!
Michelle

Strep strikes again!

Okay... This has been a tough winter for sickness in our family. Enough is enough! I have aired out the house, and gone through it with Clorox wipes, we are all taking vitamins, and drinking our orange juice. Adam had strep throat from January to March, with the rest of the family having it once in that time span as well. I truly thought we had it licked. Tonight was SUPPOSED to be Nick's family birthday party. But we cannot infect all the cousins, aunts, uncles, grammies and grampas now, can we? Cancelled. Another round of meds, another round of disinfecting... isn't parenthood wonderful? But Jesus is wonderful despite it all! I believe he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all I could ever ask or think. I also know that His grace is sufficient for our family. He will never leave us. Sickness is part of life. Oh well. I will praise Him no matter the circumstances. Birthday parties can be rescheduled. Thank you, Jesus, for your sufficient grace and abundant, unconditional love!

A trip beyond the border!

Well! I returned from Maine to find my house still standing, and to discover that the boys had an EXCELLENT time at the birthday party...even without Mom! They played all the games, did the pinata, and played 1/2 hour of soccer!

Today was my son's ACTUAL birthday! And to celebrate? We took a trip beyond the US border to Montreal for a visit to the Biodome! It was awesome! We saw monkeys, a capybara, the largest macaw parrots in the world, crocodiles, turtles, a bobcat, lots of HUGE fish, a batcave FULL of hundreds of flying bats, and my favorite... the penguins! They are the coolest! Our sons had a great time, and we are now broke! (hee hee hee). It wasn't THAT bad. And it was definitely worth it! In my opinion, sometimes "experience" gifts are better than the ones you open up and throw in the toybox.

My one huge boo-boo? I forgot to cancel my Tuesday evening Bible study with my friends... they were waiting for me to show up, and I was out of the country... oops. My bad. I will definitely need to make that one up to them!

Blessings till next time (baseball has begun... posts may be short for the next 6 weeks! AHHHH!).

Brave dad

Well, I am off to Maine tomorrow. Here is the interesting part... my youngest son is turning SIX this week, and his party happens to be Saturday morning... while I am in Maine. Hence, Dad will have the reins when they come. They? That would be ALL the boys in my son's class, plus a couple from our building... all told, there should be about 12 boys running around here on an extreme sugar high (ice cream and cake, not to mention the candy from the pinata). I have planned all the games, bought all the silly string, and ordered the cake. I have wrapped the presents and filled and organized the goodie bags. Now all I can do is LEAVE... and hope Dad keeps everything under wraps. It shouldn't be too hard, really. He's like a kid in a big person's body anyway... do guys ever really grow up? Oh well. Can't say I've ever missed my own son's party before, but I am confident that Dad will handle things just fine while Mom is away. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you!

Epitaph

Hooray! My husband is a genius! We are FINALLY back on line at home! YAY!!! No more trips to the library to check email! I am so happy! It's like a reunion with an old friend.

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that my mom had gone to Maine to visit some friends dying of cancer. One of them passed away last week, and my mom and I went down to Maine for the funeral services. While there, we had the opportunity to visit the other friend. The cancer has ravaged his body, but he had the same wonderful smile that I loved over the years growing up! I am grateful that God gave me one last opportunity to see him alive. I also sent an email to them, thanking him for the many joyful memories he gave me over the years, and that his life had an impact on mine.

What do I want people to say about me after I am gone? Will they say that I was lazy, or irresponsible? Will they say I was a great mother and wife? Will they even KNOW that I loved Jesus Christ more than anything in this life once I was born again? Oh Lord, don't let that be the case... I want people to think of Jesus when they think of me. Right now, I am not sure if that would be the case... I have lots to think about and change in my life..... With the help of the Holy Ghost, I can make those changes and impact my world for Jesus Christ while I am still here!

What will people say about you?

Blessings...
Michelle